


Day 5: Pool

by GemmaRose



Series: Femslash February 2018 [5]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Crushes, F/F, Quadrant Confusion, Swimming Pools, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: The rule, as enstated by Kanaya after the third near-drowning, is that you have to be able to swim before you can set foot outside her hive on her planet. So when Nepeta asks you to teach her, well... how can you say no?





	Day 5: Pool

“Nepeta feels... uncertain, about this.” she says slowly, eyeing the water with a distinct wariness. You giggle, gills fluttering in the weak artificial currents.

“I’m-” you pause, reconfiguring the sentence in your head the way you usually have to when talking to the olive girl. “Feferi is right here.” you assure her, bobbing up in the water so you can hold your arms above the placid surface invitingly. “She _purr_ omises Nepeta whale be fine.” you put extra emphasis on the cat pun, and her resulting smile makes your thump tortise batter against the inside of your ribs.

“Hmmm...” Nepeta makes a show of thinking it over, then smiles like moonlight and takes a graceful step back. “If Feferi insists.” her teeth glint, and she rushes towards the edge of the pool. You yelp as she hits to water in a cannonball splash, and don’t bother to shake the spray from your eyes before ducking under the surface. She’s sinking like a rock, of course, all compact muscle and heavy land-dweller bones, and you dive to scoop her up back to the surface.

She gasps for air as soon as her head’s above water, shaking her head to flick strands of short, thick hair out of her face without releasing her death grip on your shoulders. “Why did I let you talk me into this?” she whines, and you laugh.

“Because you want to visit Kanaya’s planet and hunt frogs with her.” you remind Nepeta, tapping a finger on her nose. She’s so adorabubble, you almost kiss her. But that would be presumptuous, so you refrain. “C’mon, legs down.” you slide your arm out from under her knees, and she whips around in the water to wrap them around your waist, clinging on for dear life.

“I changed my mind, Kanaya’s planet sucks!” she howls, claws digging into your shoulder. “She and Karkitty can hunt dumb gross frogs all on their own!”

You sigh, and peel her legs from around your waist. She’s strong, but only compared to her own caste. “I won’t let you drown.” you assure her. “Now just, move your legs like you’re riding a two-wheel device-”

“I don’t know how to do that either!” Nepeta’s claws dig in harder, and you sigh. So much for teaching her how to swim.

“Alright.” you acquiesce, freeing up one arm and paddling for the edge of the pool. “Wanna do somefin else instead? LoDaG’s got plenty of imps we can krill.”

“Yeah, that- that sounds good.” Nepeta nods. You catch yourself on the wall and boost her out of the water to sit on the edge. “Just let me dry off and-”

“Well, my hive _is_ mostly underwater.” you say quickly. “The upper levels around the portals are probubbly full of wet imps. Maybe you should just, air-dry.”

Nepeta thinks for a second, then nods. “Sounds good.” she equips her latest set of claws, bright candy green with dark stains at the tips and along the blades. You wonder if it’s from an ogre or a basilisk, or even a giclops. You don’t doubt that she could dispatch of any one of those without much trouble, even when they have the powers of all your lusii combined.

You pull yourself up out of the water, pushing your hair out of your face, and lead the way to the nearest portal still dripping alchemized seawater. Once you get to your own planet, you can spend as much time as you like with this oliveblood you’ve found yourself drawn to. You’re not sure yet if you want her flushed or pale, but you definitely pity her.


End file.
